


repertoire

by birdhymns



Category: Hibike! Euphonium
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-09
Updated: 2016-08-01
Packaged: 2018-03-29 17:13:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 1,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3904333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/birdhymns/pseuds/birdhymns
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Drabble collection from Tumblr. Tags to be added as necessary.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Anonymous asked: Regionals is coming soon. This round determines which school will represent each region in Nationals (i.e. If Kitauji wins, they will represent the Kansai Region in the final round). One of the required pieces is a duet. Since the club members are arguing over who should play, Taki-sensei decides to randomly draw names to decide who will participate in the duet. Kumiko and Reina's names show up, given that they don't get along well.

“A trumpet and a euph?”

“Well, in brass quintets-”

Chatter from all sides, some curious, a few a little resentful, but there were a few quiet spots. 

One, Mr. Noboru, observing them all with the two slips of paper in his right hand.

Two, Reina, sitting as quietly as ever, with eyes for only one person.

And third, Kumiko, rooted to her seat by mild terror.

Things had eased a little, between her and Reina, going home together on the train after practice gave them some time to talk, and her memory of Reina’s laugh was soon joined by others, though none quite so memorable as the first, but still. A duet with her?

A string of notes-Reina’s, some part of Kumiko noted, even before she’d turned all the way around-brought silence to the rest. But still Reina kept her gaze on Kumiko, playing on a little longer before pausing. “Do you know this one?”

Kumiko nodded. Bach’s fourth invention, one of fifteen originally intended as exercises for those learning to play the harpsichord.

“Well?”

Again a nod, though a little more hesitant this time, freezing when it clicked. “You want to play it? Right now?”

“If that’s alright.”

Their gazes burned, everyone’s, and a large part wanted to refuse. But a greater part knew what they’d think, if she refused. It was a chance for her and Reina to show what they could do.

She wasn’t going to let her down.


	2. beat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In music and musical theory, the basic unit of time. Characterised by a repeating sequence of stressed and unstressed beats.

Her hands are sweaty, and her heart feels like it might be ready to burst in her chest. People murmur, shout in their seats, the feeling of tension settled on them all. But she feels detached from it, as if she were hearing it from behind a wall of glass.

Whether it’s because the panic hasn’t set in entirely yet, or it’s already passed, she isn’t sure.

“Kumiko.”

A sharp ‘Hii!’ leaves her as she snaps upright in her seat. Reina-for it is her-doesn’t even flinch. “Nervous?”

“A-A little.”

Reina tilts her head. Just a fraction, but under her scrutiny, Kumiko becomes increasingly aware of she has no idea whether there might be some rebellious hairs that refuses to lie down, or if some stubborn piece of seaweed got stuck between her teeth.

But Reina makes no mention of her hair, or her teeth. “Tap out a beat for me,” she says instead.

Blinking once, Kumiko parrots her. “A beat?” A nod is all she gets in reply, so she knocks her knuckles against her knee. The beats come quick, one at the heel of the other, steady.

“Good.” Eyes drop to watch her hand, before rising up again. “Now, keep tapping, and breathe. Try to gradually slow it down, but don’t force it.

Seeing her purpose now, Kumiko obeys, lungs filling with air, slow, until bands stretch around her chest, at which she releases her breath, as slow as she’d taken it in.

By the time she finally stops, her tappings slowed to no more than two in a second. Reina offers her a small smile, and Kumiko can’t help but return it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure if it works for everyone, but this is something I do, when I’m trying to calm, or focus, get rid of any buzzing in my head. And Reina’d know when Kumiko was beginning to need some outside help, methinks.


	3. cake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Have it. Eat it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompted by thedeathberryredux on Tumblr.

She doesn’t like too many people, to bother trying getting close to them. But she does like Kumiko.

Her face is an honest one, and while sometimes her mouth moves before she thinks, it tends to be amusing when she realises.

It’s a comfort, to see her regularly again.

And a little more, to be able to spend time together without others about.


	4. shoelaces

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Kumiko and Reina meet as kids.

“Ah.”

The end of her lace had lost its plastic cap, and already the threads frayed, making it impossible to pull it through again.

Well, now what?

“H-Here.”

Raising her head, she found her answer in the form of eyes that shied away from her own, and a slightly shaky red lace hanging before her. A classmate. Kumiko. She remembered her voice, soft as it was, from rollcall. “You don’t need it?” she asked, hands unmoving.

Kumiko shook her head. “Mama always has a few. So you can keep this one. I-If you want, of course.”

“Thank you.” She cupped her hand underneath the lace, pulling it through finger and thumb to straighten it out before starting the slow process of completely lacing her shoe.

That done, she stood, and looked her classmate up and down. “Do you like the swings?”

Kumiko perks up immediately. “Yes!” 

Reina can’t help but smile at the grin on her face. 

The rest of recess gets spent there, and when the bell rings for them to come in once more, they go hand in hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... and I'm a sucker for 'red string of fate'.


	5. karaoke

You possess the basic strength needed for singing. You know how to breathe, you know the notes. You just never had any training, proper training, in it. But you like to think your voice sweet still. A little on the soft side. But still good.

It goes well with her voice, and that’s all that matters.


	6. train

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 'A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.'
> 
> -Lao Tzu
> 
> It begins, and it goes on.

Music, as an art, speaks of hours, months, years. It speaks of an unending process, of apprehension and frustration and embarrassment and relief and joy and pride, millions of moments all contributing to the one right now. Music chronicles lives, in its existence, in its remaking again and again by the many voices, the many hands. It speaks of experience, however great or small, and the endless struggles to get there.

And for them all, it's a way to prove themselves, to thousands who would not know them otherwise. A chance to be part of something great.

Like hell they're going to go down without a fight, and like hell they're not going to prepare as much as possible for it.


	7. birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trying to get gifts is a challenge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from thedeathberryredux on Tumblr, slightly modified to Shuuichi tries to outdo Reina’s present, ‘cause I don’t think the girl even registers him as a threat. Or wouldn’t, after ep. 8′s reassurance by Kumiko that ‘it isn’t like that’.

“So what was it that you wanted my help with?”

“I was wondering if you had heard anything about what Kumiko wanted for her birthday, since you hang out a lot. Any sort of passing mention of something she needs, would like?”

“No… ah, why not ask Reina? She might have ideas, and I think her and Kumiko practice together sometimes.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, after school when there’s no practice. They might talk then.”

“I should’ve thought of that…”

“Hm?”

“No, nothing… Reina, huh.”

“Do you not like Reina?”

“It’s not that I don’t like her, but. It feels weird to ask her for help with this.”

“That so? Mm, that’s too bad, I was actually talking to her earlier and she said she got something really good-eh, Shuuichi? You okay?”


	8. things you said at one in the morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompted by thedeathberryredux.

They’d been practicing together, and it had rained, the drops pounding furious tattoos occasionally accented by light and thunder, and that was the deciding factor in laying out a futon and waiting it out.

The storm rolled on, and on, preventing any descent into sleep.

“Do you think we can win?”

Reina’s eyes were bright, catching what little light hustled in from the street outside, catching and holding Kumiko’s gaze.

“…I think so.”

There was only silence after that, and the gentle warmth of each other’s hand.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which I try to make things even gayer.

She says your name and it's like a hundred things are before you, all rolled into those tiny curls of her tongue. You feel like you could listen to it forever, if it wasn't for how fear seemed to coat everything there, muting the rest. How you despise it!

So you hold her. Not close, but you hold her firmly, her cheeks pushing her eyes half-shut. Throw her off-guard, open to you and your words.

'I'm going to do my best; you need to do yours. Promise me.'

There's a moment of silence, of her reading your words and her reading your eyes. Then she steps forward and presses against your own cheeks, pushing you back, vigour in her visage once more.

'I'll do my best.'

Satisfied, you nod, step back, before retrieving your trumpet in its case.

"...Thank you, Reina."

The words are soft, like that threshold note every musician knows. Any weaker a breath, any weaker to play, and it would not not sound. But you hear it, and for the moment, there is no trepidation, only gratefulness, determination, warmth.

It's all you ever want.


	10. the feelings we bear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An anonymous prompt on Tumblr.

"Are you jealous?"

“…If I was?”

Her face told you she was serious, not looking at you straight on but the corner of her eye. Her shoulders are hunched ever so slightly. Protecting herself, her center. Her heart.

In a perhaps slightly twisted way, you’re honoured, that you have such a hold on her. 

So you can’t help a laugh, and you smile.

“Then I’d tell you there’s no reason to be.”


	11. cushion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Requested by thedeathberryredux on Tumblr.

It is a quiet moment, in a life of music, returning home after a competition or a concert. Nothing to do but breathe, and to let nerves unwind a fraction before the next round starts.

Much to Midori’s and Hazuki’s amusement, Kumiko and Reina seemed to have the relaxation part down pat.

The way they’ve arranged themselves is interesting, to say the least. They’ve pushed up the arm between their chairs, and pressed themselves close together. Kumiko’s in Reina’s lap, head over clasped hands, and Reina bent over her, lying on Kumiko’s back, arms spread to spread her weight, or some sort of thing. Their breathing is soft, undisturbed by the bumps in the road.

It’s like some weird sandwich, Hazuki giggles, before Midori shushes her, and murmurs to let them sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obligatory note: I have slept like this with a friend on an airplane. I was on top, and my friend professed no discomfort, so I feel I can attest to it.


	12. covenant's blood. water's thickness.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt by thedeathberryredux for KumiRei meeting, family, so I expanded on a headcanon I'd touched on.

The first thing Reina notes is the pots of cacti. 

That is arguably strange, anyway. Kumiko had already ‘introduced’ her to her mother and her sister before she’d even laid eyes on them, with hands motioning about as she tried to explain them to her, an accompaniment to her words, to try and bring out their exact essence.

Reina found it sweet.

She was less enthused, though, when Kumiko’s smile faltered. Detailed her sister, how she’d played in band once. But dismissed it, seemed more annoyed by Kumiko pursuing it than anything.

Reina’s thoughts bore the tiniest traces of anger, walking to Kumiko’s home. How could not anyone not love it, seeing her love for music, for her euph? Why would someone scorn something so fierce? Something so bright?

It’s beyond her comprehension

But she remains polite to her, only silently noting the eyes on her case, and keeping Kumiko’s sister frames her leaving until dinner as ‘avoiding a headache’.

She will be grateful her sister led Kumiko to play, and leave it at that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, officially opening up to prompts from y'all. Give them here, or on tumblr, I can be found at the URL aresmarked.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For swindlebrindle, who asked for some sort of handholding.

Their lives are of notes and the rests in-between.

They practice even harder now. Gold stripped away the last of the ‘what if’ for them all. No longer just a dream to be idly talked of before the subject slid away, but a possibility as real as the instruments beneath their hands. Kumiko practices every spare moment she has, fingers shaping ghost-notes as she tackles the latest bit of homework.

Those are the notes.

The rests, the rest, they await the return of the song that binds them, their fingers holding them in the meantime.


End file.
